Happy Easter!

        

Mason and Ellie examining their baskets

        

Mason and Ellie with cousin Cade

Ellie and Mason with Aunt Erin

Grandpa Mike

Grandpa Mike came to visit last weekend. We love it when he comes!!!!

Grandpa showing Mason how to build a card house. I believe it is an exact replica of the floor plan of our house (to scale of course).

I know you didn't want me taking this picture, Grandpa, but I love how it shows your total commitment to playing with the kids.

Grandpa, Mason and Ellie

Grandpa and Mason

This is a common look from Mason. I believe here it was his "Say cheese" face.

Grandpa and Ellie

Grandpa brought "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" for the kids to play. Ellie loved the blindfold and decided riding her bike while she couldn't see was a fun adventure.

Saying Goodnight

Mason and Ellie have a nightly routine where they give each other a hug and a kiss before bedtime. It is the sweetest thing for a mother to see. 

Sometimes it goes a little too far and Ellie ends up in tears. 

But it shows how much they love each other, and it makes me smile everytime I see it.

My Eights Tag...

These are my 8 favorite TV shows
1. Chuck

2. Lie to Me
3. Food Network

4. HGTV
5. Jon and Kate Plus Eight :)
6. American Idol

7. What Not to Wear
8. The Office

8 Things I did Yesterday
1. Played outside in the nice weather

2. Talked to our good friends, the Finches, on Skype

3. Went to the library

4. Ate enchiladas for dinner

5. Went running

6. Did laundry

7. Stopped by the post office

8. Read a book

Things I am looking forward to
1. My dad coming to visit

2. The summer time

3. Visiting CA in July

4. New carpet upstairs
5. Financial stability
6. The housing market turning around

7. Visiting our friends in AZ 

8. Swimming in a pool

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Cafe Rio

2. Olive Garden

3. Los Panchos

4. Sam Hawk

5. In n out

6. China Hill

7. Chevy's (flautas)

8. Rubios

8 Things on my wish list

1. I wish Utah had a tropical climate

2. I wish my children had a mute button (only sometimes)

3. I wish I had more patience

4. I wish I could eat whatever I wanted and it wouldn't affect my weight

5. I wish I was a little bit taller

6. I wish I was a baller

7. I wish I had a girl with a phone I would call her...

8. I wish for world peace

Ellie Speaks

Ellie surprised me today. We were getting ready to go do some errands this morning and I told her we needed to get ready to go. She looked up at me and said, "Shoes on. Jacket too." I was totally shocked. This is the first time she has put more than 2 words together at once. It was pretty neat, because I felt like I was having a real conversation with her. 

Random Pictures

It has been awhile since I've posted anything. I don't seem to have any stories to tell. We've taken a few cute pictures lately, so I thought I'd put those up for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

 

Mason playing in the snow. 

I love this one of Ellie. So pretty!

Mommy's Birthday! (28 is sounding rather old)

I don't know what Ellie is mad about, but I love her angry face.

Ever since Mason played Joseph in the Christmas Nativity, he has enjoyed putting towels on his head along with pretty headbands.

Mason took this picture. Not too bad!

Dressing up

She's got a lot to say!

Ellie is now 16 months old, and she is becoming quite the talker. It seems like everyday she's picking up new words. In fact, today she started saying "Mason." Here's a sample of some of the things she knows. 

Christmas 2008

Here are some pictures of Mason and Ellie on Christmas.

We acted out the Nativity. Cousin Cade was Baby Jesus, Cousin Chloe was the angel, Cousin Claire was Mary and Mason was Joseph. 

I love Ellie's crazy morning hair.

Playing with dinosaurs.

Ellie loves her new "Elma" doll.

Mason's reaction to only seeing the box of the present. He was pretty excited!

Once there was a snowman...

We finally had enough wet snow to build a snowman. Mason has been wanting to build one since he first saw snow this year. He was very pleased with the result and decided to name him "Jonasty." I have no idea where that name came from. 

Mason's New Hobby

Mason has discovered the PhotoBooth program on our computer. Basically, it's a program that takes your picture, but you can choose different effects to enhance the pictures. Mason refers to this as "color faces." I've watched him sit at the computer on numerous occasions and take hundreds of pictures of himself. However, it wasn't until tonight that I actually looked back at all the pictures he's taken and realized how funny they were. I thought I'd share a few. His faces are quite expressive.

First Snow Day

Technically, this wasn't the first snowfall of the season. When the real first snow came, we were out of town. So for our family, this was our first opportunity to go out and play with it. Mason was dressed immediately and out the door playing. He started shoveling the snow and throwing it up in the air. This was his choice of activity the entire time we were outside. It took Ellie about 15 minutes of watching Mason before she decided it was safe to go walk in the snow herself. This was Ellie's first experience with snow. Once she ventured out, she enjoyed walking around in it, but she didn't like how the snow stuck to her boots. Every time there was snow accumulated on the tips of her toes, she made me knock it off. 

Ellie pointing out the snow on her boot for me to knock it off.
Mason having a great time!
Ellie realizing snow is kind of fun!
Throwing snow.

Painted Hands

One of Mason's favorite things to do outside is dig in the dirt.  He usually keeps the dirt off the sidewalk and it keeps him busy for a long time, so I really don't have a problem with him doing it.  A few days ago, after digging in the dirt for awhile, Mason comes over to show me what he had been doing. He decided to paint his hands with mud. He was pretty excited about it.

The Joy of Music

Dave and I love listening to music. Our kids love listening to music. We've created a CD of our favorite songs and play that whenever we are in the car. Mason has always loved what we've chosen to listen to, and amazingly, he knows the words to most of the songs. It's funny to be in the car and hear Mason sing along to some of our favorites. Right now some of Mason's favorites include "1,2,3,4" and "Meet Me in California" by the Plain White T's, as well as "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon. What makes driving in the car even more entertaining these days is that Ellie is starting to sing along too! I especially like John Mayer's version of Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'." I think this might be Ellie's favorite as well. During the chorus, she starts to sing "Feeeeeee, Feeeeee, Feeeeee" (trying to say "free") in a high pitched voice. It's pretty cute. I tried to get video of the kids singing, but of course, when the camera is on, they get all goofy. 

* I apologize for the poor lighting. It's hard to make it work in the basement at night.*

Here's Ellie singing "Feeeee!"

Here's Mason singing "1,2,3,4." 

(If you listen closely, you'll hear Ellie say "five" after they count to four)

I have been tagged...

1. Where is your cell phone? In my back pocket.
2. Your significant other? Dave, a great guy who makes me laugh.
3. Your hair? Brown. I'm trying to grow out my bangs. I always think they will work on me, and they never do.
4. Your mother? Trish, : ) She's always there with support and love,  and helps me be a better person and mother.
5. Your father? Mike,  He's also a great support and a good listener. I now see how patient he is as I watch him interact with my kids.
6. Your favorite thing? my family
7. Your dream last night? I don't think I had one.
8. Your favorite drink? I'd have to say chocolate milk.
9. Your dream/goal? I want my kids to grow up to be good individuals and I hope I'm doing everything I can to help with that.
10. The room you're in? My bedroom
11. Your hobby? scrapbooking, blogging, reading
12. Your fear? scary movies
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? In a bigger house with my family.
14. what you are not? a loud person
15. muffins? I love poppyseed and chocolate, of course.
17. Where you grew up? Martinez, California
18. The last thing you did? I cleaned up Mason's play-doh.
19. What are you wearing? a black t-shirt and khaki cords
20. Favorite gadget? I really don't know.
21. Your pets? none 
22. your computer? an i-mac. I love it. There are so many cool things you can do with it that are totally easy.
23. your mood? happy
24. Missing someone? I miss my family. They're so great!
25. your car? 2002 Mitsubishi Galant
26. something you are not wearing? shoes
27. Favorite store? Target
28. Like someone? I'm a pretty good mix between Mom and Dad.
29. Your favorite color? Blue
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today with Kathryn. She's funny.
31. Last time you cried? I think about 2 weeks ago

I Tag Kathryn, Mandy, and Claire

Mason meets Charlie

Last Friday I was reorganizing our storage closet. As I was going through the boxes, I came across our Christmas decorations. I thought it would be wise to keep them out since I would be needing them fairly soon. 

The Christmas boxes were sitting in my hallway. I didn't like the crowded hallway that was now in my home, so I decided to start getting rid of the boxes...by decorating. This is probably the earliest I have ever decorated, but I'm totally excited for the Christmas season this year. Mason's excitement is contagious.

Our decorations are up and our Christmas DVDs are out. Mason has found a new favorite movie. "A Charlie Brown Christmas" has been playing in our house since last Friday. Mason has "TV tokens" he gets to use for an allotted amount of TV watching per day. The only show he has used his tokens for since last Friday is Charlie Brown. He even quoted a part of the movie at dinner tonight. I'm anticipating watching this movie at least 50 more times this season.

Trick or Treat!

It was a fun night, but we're all exhausted! We went to Bountiful to trick-or-treat in Grandma Nancy and Papa Steve's neighborhood (from past experience we know they give full size candy bars there). We met up with Uncle Cameron, Aunt Brittany and cousin Cade, and we all went through the neighborhood together. 

Mason has really been fascinated with "package trucks" these days. Anytime he sees a UPS or FEDEX truck, he points it out to me and is so excited about it. Therefore, it was only appropriate that Mason dress up as a "package man" for Halloween. He was a UPS guy. As my sister put it, "So many kids dress up as super heros like Spiderman, Superman, or Batman. Mason is going as the working man's hero...the UPS Guy." So true! 

Ellie was a pretty little lady bug. This was Ellie's first year trick-or-treating, and after the first few houses she wasn't as nervous and grasped the idea. She was walking up to the door, reaching her hand in the candy bowls, and placing the candy in her own pumpkin bucket. By the end she was even trying to say "trick or treat." 

While we were out, I told Mason that we were going to go to a few more houses and then it would be time to go home. He laughed at my comment and said, "Mommy, you're just kidding! We are going to go to a lot more houses!" It's so fun to see genuine excitement in your children.

Mason, the UPS Guy

Ellie the pretty ladybug

Ellie and Grandma Nancy--off we go!

Ellie, Mason and Cade

Ellie combing her hair and Mason doing UPS Guy paperwork

Out in the neighborhood

Brittany, Cade, Mason and Ellie

Pumpkin Patch

We took a trip to the pumpkin patch a few days ago. Mason and Ellie had a great time wandering through the pumpkins. Here are a few pictures of the fun.

This is a typical interaction between Mason and Ellie. Mason loves playing with Ellie's ponytails and Ellie hates it.

Mason finding his way out of the hay maze all by himself! 

Eeeewwwwyyyy!!! Squashed pumpkin!

Finding the perfect pumpkin.